Lady Vols basketball desperately needed a bounce-back win against Missouri after the dismantling it suffered at the hands of South Carolina on Sunday. That’s exactly what Tennessee got in its 98-53 win over Kellie Harper and the Tigers on Thursday.
Here are three quick takeaways from the win.
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Lady Vols Wasted No Time
Tennessee wasted no time jumping on Missouri. That’s probably for the best, too. With the tough loss to South Carolina, getting off to a fast start quickly put away any lingering anxiety.
In the first quarter, UT put together a 29-13 lead. This was capped off with a Janiah Barker 3-pointer to score her 12th points of the game. She shot 4-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from three in the period.
At halftime, the lead had ballooned all the way to 53-22, a 31-point advantage. At the break, the Lady Vols were shooting 55% from range and 40% on threes. Defensively, Missouri was shooting just 26.7% from the field and 16.7% from distance.
That created plenty enough of a buffer to cruise to a comfortable win.
That’s the Janiah Barker Tennessee Needs All Year
It’s been an up-and-down year for Janiah Barker. At times, she’s looked the part of a first-round WNBA draft pick. Other times, she’s flown under the radar and not left her mark on games.
This was one of the games that she completely took over. In the first quarter alone, she dropped 12 points, including a 3-pointer as time expired. At halftime, she was up to 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the field and 2-for-3 from distance.
Barker finished with 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting and 2-for-5 from range. She also grabbed eight rebounds and passed for an assist with no turnovers in only 17 minutes.
The other star of the night was freshman Deniya Prawl. She earned 13 points, 10 rebounds and an assist. This marks her first career double-double.
Lady Vols Take a Big Step Defensively
One of the common themes for the Lady Vols has been defensive struggles against top opponents. That was very apparent in the loss to South Carolina, when the Gamecocks scored 93 points.
While Missouri is a far, far step back in terms of quality of opponent, you have to be happy with what Tennessee did on that end of the floor. There were occasional breakdowns, but overall, it was a game where the press did more help than harm.
The Tigers shot 29.6% from the field and 4-for-23 from distance. They turned it over 21 times, which resulted in 27 points. In total, Missouri only scored 53 points.
Final Stats
Up Next
Next, the Lady Vols will host No. 4-ranked Texas in Knoxville. The game will air at 3 p.m. ET and airs on ABC. It will be a rematch of the Sweet 16 game that Kim Caldwell and Tennessee lost a year ago.
